Where did you get your hat dear?

At work we had a staff social today. Lots of fun and lots of food.

Halloween Cakes

I love these cakes! The details on them were amazing. And how fun to see them. I can't decide my favorite, either the mummy or the hairy black/blue monstor. Sorry the ghost was blocked.

This was at the Central Market HEB. This market is an upscale version of a very popular grocery chain here in Texas and it's one of the nation's largest independent food retailers. HEB stands for Howard E. Butt.

San Antonio Botanic Gardens

Tim and I took advantage of the almost fall like gorgeous weather and took a trip to the San Antonio Botanic Gardens today. Not exactly bloom season, but nice nonetheless.

Empire Theatre & CNN

Had to stay in town late last night and as we cut through downtown to get to IH10, I really liked all the lights of the night. I rarely go down St. Mary's in the evening due to congestion on the one-way streets but I'm glad I did last night. We got to see the Empire Theatre all lit up for a show CNN was hosting there. It was about the borders and immigration. Highlights on the news showed it was a heated debate at times. It is one of many town hall meetings CNN has set up across the country. Maybe you have one coming or came already?

Avenida de Guadalupe

One more shot of another building in the Guadalupe neighborhood. I just love the vibrant colors here. This is an office building.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Had to go to a meeting in the Avenida Guadalupe Neighborhood, on the west side of downtown SA. I was treated to lots of colorful and fun architecture. This is a shot of one of the buildings I spotted. I won't attempt to explain the history and meaning of Our Lady of Guadalupe, sometimes known as Virgin of Guadalupe. As you can see by the size of this work, it is quite a tribute to her.

If you are interested, visit Wiki for more information.

Sunrise

Sunrise as Mark and I walked out the door this morning. It was gorgeous. We finally have cool temps and I had to wear a jacket! (47F woo hoo!)

Aluminated Art

This is an artpiece hanging at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. I didn't realize it was all soda cans until I got close to it.

Alamo Fiesta

This is one of my all-time favorite stores in Texas. It's 5 minutes north of Central Library and they've always got some really neat merchandise displayed seasonally. Currently it's the season for Halloween and Days of the Dead celebrations hence all the pumpkins, skeletons and so on.

The pinatas are wonderful -- well made, reasonably priced and often hilarious. I see a bat, Casper the Friendly Ghost and a witch. When it's Spurs playoffs, you start seeing basketballs and popular players (yes, as pinatas).

One day I'll try and get some pics of the inside. It's filled with goodies from Mexico. Dolls, clothing, ceramic and popular tin decorations, pottery and more traditional pinatas. If you're in the area, definitely check this place out!

City Hall - Plaza de Armas

This is the front entrance of our City Hall where most of our city leaders have offices -- City Manager and all her assistant city managers and deputy city managers, council members and all their assistants and the mayor and all his assistants. Lots of assistants around there. Oh, and I believe some other city employees. It looks great from the outside but when I went inside for a meeting upstairs, there's a restaurant in the basement and since the center is open all the way up through the 2nd floor, it was sweltering from all the cooking I guess.

San Fernando Revisited

Haven't gotten out a lot for more pics so I am posting another from my trip to San Fernando. I just really liked the candles.

Funky hand-dryer

Not that I often take photos of bathrooms but these hand-dryers were so interesting to me. I have never seen any so vibrant. They startled me and made me laugh. Anyway, here's some organge in honor of pumpkins and Halloween this month.

Inside San Fernando

This morning I had to get a new badge for work so I walked back from City Hall Annex to Central Library. Took some nice shots I will post over time. This is the inside of San Fernando (which I shot in September).

More Tower

So this is one of the shots I snapped when we went to the top of the Tower Sarah and Shorty posted about yesterday. Can you see the Friendship Torch and the Enchilada Central Library? Click on the picture to go to Flickr and see notes of the location.

Tower of Americas

Built in 1968 for the World's Fair, the Tower of Americas stands over San Antonio, sitting in HemisFair Park. The Tower is 750 feet tall (228.6 meters) which makes it 87 feet (26 m) taller than the more famous Space Needle in Seattle!

The Tower of Americas was in pretty bad disrepair, but was recently bought by Landry's who have done restoration on the inside and opened a new restaurant on the second level of the observation deck. We were all recently there for a work event.

Storm Trooper and a Shadow

Taken outside the parking garage at the library. This type of stencil graffiti seems to be pretty popular these days.

Remember the Alamo?

Obligatory tourist photo. Other than the riverwalk, the Alamo is San Antonio's most famous destination. Most of the other missions are pretty far from the city center, the Alamo is tucked right in the middle of downtown, which makes it very popular. The gardens behind the Alamo are quite lovely.

The unique silhouette of the roof line is very popular here for advertisements and store logos. San Antonio also has many businesses that start with Alamo City (...Plumbing...Roofing...etc.), Alamo Area or just Alamo.

Touristas

Its Friday evening, and all the touristas are out on the Riverwalk. You can take a river cruise or sit at a table under an umbrella riverside at many of the restaurants that line this particular area of the river. Of course it also can get quite lovely and rowdy late at night.

Been Bad?

Found these electric chairs outside of a bar last evening. Don't think they are hooked up to anything, but there are wires coming out of the one on the left...

Hairy

It can be quite humid in San Antonio, which can make your hair go crazy! :) Actually I found these plants on the Riverwalk and loved how they looked.

Yo, over here already.

Since there was a serious shot from Sonia's wedding the other day I thought I'd post one that made me laugh. Here they were after the ceremony, having their photos taken by the pro, not us daily bloggers, but Sarah and I of course had our cameras. I believe they were motioning for their parents to join them. They were so synchronized, I was amazed.

You can also see the pretty color of the water in the background. The wedding was at Lake Medina at the dam. Sonia and Danny enjoy their water sports and that cliff-jumping thing they do. Remember?

Sonia and Danny

Sonia got married yesterday, and left for her honeymoon today. Congratulations!